This work is a contribution to the column of the Museum of History, representing only the personal views of the author; this work is not a rigorous historical academic research, for reference only; unauthorized, prohibited second transmission, violators will be investigated.
This article is written by Jinfan Ranger
After Shi Le killed Wang Jun, the central plains in the north changed, and this twilight empire entered its final twilight.
In the area of Pingzhou in Youzhou to the north, it is surprising that the greatest victory was not Shi Le, who killed Wang Jun, but Duanbu Xianbei.
When Wang Jun was still alive, Duan Bu Xianbei had already separated from Wang Jun, but Wang Jun was nominally a Jin subject after all, and Duan Qilu did not want to wear the name of a "traitor" and become the target of everyone. Now that Wang Jun had died at the hands of Shi Le, Duan Yilu could naturally justifiably engage Shi Le and seize Jizhou.
Liu Han, the Assassin of Youzhou appointed by Shi Le, dedicated Jicheng to Duan Pilei. Duan Pilei then invited the garrison at Yici Shao to jointly fight against Shi Le and return to the Sima Rui regime in Jiangdong.
Shao Xu's fame was not great, but in terms of loyalty to the Jin Dynasty, he was not much lower than Liu Kun and Zu Ti. In his early years, he served as a member of sima ying, the king of Chengdu, and then when Sima Ying attempted to attack Sima Ying, the king of Changsha, Shao Continued to dissuade Sima Ying. After his advice was ineffective, he turned to Gou Xi, and then left Gou Xi and returned to his hometown to form a rebel army and became the guardian of Wu Fort. Later, Shao Xu was appointed by Wang Jun as the Taishou of Leling, stationed in Yici, and when Wang Jun was defeated, Shao Xu, who had no internal and external support, had to hand over his son as a hostage and surrender to Shi Le.
Shao Xu understood very well that if he agreed to Duan Piling's invitation, his son's life would definitely not be saved. However, Shao Xu believed that he could not be a traitor to the state for the sake of a son, and an old Jin Dynasty official also knew great righteousness to him, and Shao Xuyi suddenly raised the banner of righteousness. Naturally, Shi Le did not spare Shao Xu's son, and he even personally led eight thousand soldiers to surround Yi Ci and prepare to eliminate Shao Xu in one fell swoop.
Fortunately, Duan Bu Xianbei was very interesting, and they had no intention of betraying Shao Xu, and sent Duan Wenyan to lead the cavalry to break the siege.
Shi Le had already heard of the combat strength of the Xianbei cavalry, and he did not dare to fight a field battle with Duan Wenyan, so he fled back to Xiangguo in a hurry, and even did not have time to take the siege weapon with him. Shao Xu then followed Duan Wenyan in pursuit and snatched more than 5,000 households on Shi Le's territory, greatly weakening Shi Le's strength.
Another part of the Northern Zhongyuan Shi fled to Changli under the influence of the army and defected to Murong Xi of the Guangna Shi people. In order to accommodate these original scholars, Murong Xi set up four new counties in his own territory, and placed them one by one according to their place of origin. All in all, at this time, in the Youzhou and Pingzhou areas, it is basically the Xianbei people who have the final say.
[1] April 314
Further south, is The main territory of Shile, Jizhou. Due to years of war and population displacement, the economy of this region was greatly damaged, and at this time, Shi Le's Xiangguo also had a famine in this year, and two liters of millet were worth one pound of silver, and one pound of meat was also worth one or two pieces of silver.
In order to develop the economy, stabilize the population, and restore production, taking this grain shortage as an opportunity, Shi Le ordered all states and counties to verify their household registrations and formulated a policy of levying two horses and two valleys per household. This tax rate was even lower than the tax burden during the Taiping period of the Western Jin Dynasty, and the burden of the people was reduced, and more and more people naturally took the initiative to turn to Shi Le.
Contrary to Shi Le, who fought steadily in Jizhou, Liu Cong, who was in Jizhou, took a fatal wrong move. While Shi Le's officials were busy registering the population and implementing a new tax system, Liu Cong ordered Liu Yao and Zhao Yan to attack Chang'an again.
This time, as always, the Han army was still divided into two routes, Liu Yao led the main force to garrison the mouth of the Weishui and Yellow Rivers, and Zhao Yan was stationed in Xinfeng and attacked first.
Zhao Yan's opponent was Suo Qiang. Since the Han army had won victories in several previous small battles, Zhao Yan began to show some signs of light enemies. Chang Shi Luhui advised: "The kings and subjects of the Jin Dynasty know that there is a huge disparity in strength, and they will definitely fight with us, and the general must not despise them!" Zhao Yan smiled contemptuously, "Even if Sima Mo is such a powerful opponent, I also defeated him like a decayer." Can this boy still stain my hooves and blades? ”
Early the next morning, Zhao Yan led hundreds of light horses to attack Suo Qi and said: Catch Suo Qi, and then eat breakfast!
Suo Qiang made Zhao Yan suffer with a strong counterattack, and Zhao Yan, who had returned from defeat, said with chagrin: "I didn't listen to Lu Hui's words and failed, what face did I see him?" ”
But Zhao Yan's approach was not to correct the mistake, but to cover it up with an even bigger mistake: he actually ordered Lu Hui's killing to cover up his incompetence. An angry Lu Hui gritted his teeth and cursed: "General, you are stupid and stubborn, so you will fail, but you are jealous of those who are more cruel than you, and you kill Zhongliang to vent your resentment, the retribution of heaven and earth is still there, you must not die well!" ”
Lu Hui's curse soon took effect, and in the ensuing battle against the Northland, a crossbow arrow pierced Through Zhao Yan's chest.
[2] June 314
Liu Yao was also quite dissatisfied with Zhao Yan, and taunted: "After all, the mud pit out of the inferior horse cannot accommodate carp, and it is said that people like Zhao Yan are talking about." ”
However, Liu Yao was not much stronger than Zhao Yan, and his offensive trend seemed to be the same as that of Zhao Yan: in the early stages of the attack, he also successfully defeated the Jin general Li Yun at Feng Yi, while he was also attacked by the night attack of the defenders, forcing him to retreat.
During the retreat, Liu Yao took a look at Guo Mo, the lord of the Dock Fort who was entrenched in Huaicheng: This trip out, there must be some gain, otherwise his face is too hanging.
The menacing Liu Yao built a triple encirclement outside Huaicheng, encircling Guo Mo. Just when Huaicheng's grain was about to run out, Guo Mo gave his wife and children to Liu Yao as hostages, asked for some grain, and said that as long as he was full, he would surrender.
Liu Yao was an honest man, and he also thought that Guo Mo could not play any tricks when the mountains and rivers were exhausted, so he agreed to Guo Mo's request.
But Guo Mo is actually a figure who will stop at nothing to achieve his goals, and for him, as long as he can complete the goal of resisting Hu, even if he is temporarily committed to the leader of the Hu people, it is acceptable. So as soon as the grain arrived, Guo Mo immediately turned his face and did not recognize the account, closed the city gate and posed as a dead guard. Liu Yao realized that he had let people put together, and in anger, he threw Guo Mo's wife and children into the Yellow River and drowned, ordering the soldiers to attack the city with all their might.
Guo Mo gradually could not support it, and sent someone to ask Liu Kun for help, but Liu Kun had already heard about Guo Mo's cunning, and he was afraid that Guo Mo had bad intentions for himself, leaving Guo Mo's emissaries behind and did not immediately reply.
In a hurry, Guo Mo even sent someone to ask Shi Le for help: he naturally saw that Shi Le had actually divided one side and did not intend to become a loyal subordinate of Liu Cong. But the cunning Shi Le would not be shot by Guo Mo, and he handed Guo Mo's letter to Liu Yao unchanged and did not participate in it.
There was no news of the reinforcements, and Guo Mo planned to break through to defect to Li Zhi, the lord of Wu fort stationed in Xinzheng. But the number of troops he could use was too small, and there was no chance of a breakthrough. At this time, Guo Mo found that the Han army outside the city had decreased a lot, and it turned out that Liu Cong's emissaries had sent news to Liu Yao, saying that Liu Kun was the enemy of his henchmen, and Guo Mo did not have to worry about it, and summoned Liu Yao back to Shi Pusaka, and there was no need to besiege Huaicheng anymore.
So Liu Yao returned with the main force, leaving a partial division to continue to besiege Huaicheng. Although these soldiers were not capable of attacking the city, it was still more than enough to continue to encircle.
However, Guo Mo's luck was very good, and a few days later, hundreds of Xianbei people came from near Huaicheng. These Xianbei people were a mission sent by Liu Kun to Sima Ye of chang'an, and when they reached the vicinity of Huaicheng, they learned that Guo Mo was engaged in battle with the Han army and that the road ahead was impassable, so they prepared to take a detour to defect to Shao Xu. When passing through Xinzheng, Li Zhi asked them to help break the siege for Guo Mo, and considering the long-term good cooperative relationship with Liu Kun, these Xianbei people agreed.
The Xianbei soldiers did not engage the Han army at all, but only showed their faces slightly, and Ping Su was afraid that the Han army of the Xianbei people would rush to withdraw from the camp, and Guo Mo was saved.
[3] November 314
The military operation in Raiders Guanzhong was not smooth, but Liu Cong did not care. His so-called defense against Liu Kun was just a pretense, and the real purpose was to summon Liu Yao to assist the government.
It is said that Pingyang already has three more mature teams of Liu Cong, Liu Yue and Liu Qi, and there is no need for Liu Yao to go through the branches. However, just as Liu Yao returned to Pingyang, Liu Cong issued an edict to crown Liu Cang, the King of Jin, as Xiangguo, General Baiyi, and Dadan Yu.
To put it simply, it was to let his son Liu Cang take over the military power in the imperial court and minimize Liu Qi's political influence, and to summon Liu Yao's class was to let him give Liu Yue a town.
The internal contradictions of the Han Kingdom thus opened the final fig leaf, and Liu Cong no longer hid his political intentions and chose to attack Liu Qi.
For Liu Qi, the contradiction between him and Liu Cong has a long history. On the one hand, Liu Cong's throne should have been sat by him, but due to the situation, Liu Cong had to resign to Liu Cong, so Liu Cong has always been wary of Liu Cong; on the other hand, Liu Cong's affair with his birth mother Shan Shi is not a glorious thing for Liu Cong. He only had two choices left, either to accept Liu Cong's arrangement and be at the mercy of others from then on, or to fight to the death to find a life.
In fact, as a link between the Xiongnu and the Huns, the existence of Liu Qi has special political significance, which is also the source of Liu Qi's political energy. Once there was a problem with his disposition, relations between the Huns and the Huns could take a sharp turn for the worse. On the issue of Liu Qi, Liu Cong should have been cautious and cautious, but in order to pass the throne to his son Liu Cang, he could not take care of so much.
In March 315, His Highness the Eastern Palace Yanming received a bloody rain. On the pretext of inquiring about the celestial signs, Liu Qi summoned Taifu Cui Wei and Taibao Xu To discuss countermeasures. They were originally all Jin ministers, so they took the opportunity to provoke a contradiction between Liu Qi and Liu Cong.
"In the past, the emperor made His Highness the emperor's brother-in-law, but he just wanted to calm people's minds. In fact, he had been the heir to the throne for a long time, and officials below the prince had catered to His Majesty's wishes. Suddenly, he made the King of Jin the Xiangguo, overshadowed his position and power over the eastern palace of His Highness, and let him provoke all military and political affairs, and also placed many soldiers as wings for the princes, precisely in order to remove the status of the heir to the throne of His Highness. Not only that, but perhaps not being able to inherit the throne is a relatively good outcome. Even the safety of His Highness's life may be unexpected sooner or later. His Highness might as well arrange countermeasures as soon as possible, now the elite troops guarding the imperial palace are no less than five thousand, and Xiangguo Liu Yue is frivolous and unprepared, and can just bother an assassin to solve it. The great general Liu Shi went out every day, and as long as he launched an attack, he could occupy his military camp, and the remaining princes were young and easy to solve, and this matter was successful. If His Highness had the intention, he could immediately let 20,000 elite soldiers enter the Cloud Dragon Gate, and who among those guards would not turn against him to welcome His Highness? If the situation developed to such a situation, what else did Grand Sima Liu Yao have to worry about? ”
This was a very bold and risky plan, Liu Qi hesitated, he could not make up his mind, and as a result, the time passed, and the conspiracy was learned by Liu Cong.
Liu Cong reacted quickly, sending troops to kill Liu Qi's henchmen and besieging the Eastern Palace where Liu Qi lived, forbidding Liu Qi to set foot in the imperial court. At the same time, in order not to cause excessive fluctuations in the korean situation, Liu Cong did not announce that the reason for doing all this was that Liu Qi was suspected of plotting rebellion and minimized the impact of the incident as much as possible.
Liu Qi, who was under surveillance, was terrified, begged himself to be a shuren, and wrote an article praising Liu Cang, recommending Liu Cang as his heir. But all this is just a waste of effort, this above table has not been sent to Liu Cong's eyes at all, it can be said that the end of Liu Qi's life is only a matter of time.
After solving Liu Qi, Liu Cong focused his main energy on Li Hou. He married jin yueguang and jin yuehua, two daughters of jin zhun of the central protector, and made them empresses of the upper and right empresses, and made the favored concubine Liu Guifei the left empress. The ministers all thought that it was ridiculous to establish the third queen at the same time, and they gave advice one after another, which made Liu Cong furious, and for this reason there was a fierce conflict with the ministers led by Chen Yuanda. After the conflict, Jin Yueguang was found to have misbehaved and committed suicide in shame, Liu Cong had to depose her and show a posture of humility and advice to Chen Yuanda, but did not change, but hated Chen Yuanda even more.
Liu Cong, who was in the prefecture, was immersed in the gentle countryside, while Cao Ling's career, which was entrenched in the area of Qilu in Qingzhou, was thriving. After escaping From Wang Mi's control, Cao Ling established his own base in Qingzhou while Qunxiong was conquering the Central Plains. In order to reduce foreign enemies, he also honored Liu Cong as the main one, nominally under Liu Cong's command, but in essence a warlord in Qingzhou.
Shi Le, who was also a warlord, did not want to have such a dangerous enemy around him, so he asked Liu Cong to eliminate Cao Ling, but Liu Cong refused: if He eliminated Cao Ling, he would obviously no longer be able to control Shi Le, rather than leave Cao Ling to restrain Shi Le and sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight.
Several forces in the northern land are intertwined and develop one after another, and the main focus of contradictions and conflicts is naturally between Liu Cong in Pingyang and Sima Ye in Chang'an.
In April of that year, Liu Yao attacked Chang'an for the third time, and the Western Jin court was originally in the predicament of lack of military resources, but at this time there was a sensational tomb robbery incident in Guanzhong, and the displaced people who were struggling to survive dug up the tombs of Emperor Wen of Han, Emperor Xuan of Han, and Empress Bo, and obtained many treasures. The imperial court felt that these displaced people could not be restrained anyway, and simply ordered them to hand over some of their belongings for military expenses. With the support of these treasures, the Jin army quickly assembled and repelled Liu Yao's attack.
Unable to break the situation, Liu Yao decided to retreat and attack Liu Kun instead. He first attacked Shangdang, and then defeated Liu Kun's army at Xiangyuan, and when Liu Yao wanted to attack Yangqu further, Liu Cong sent emissaries saying that Liu Yao's top priority was to capture Guanzhong, and Liu Kun had his own hussar general Liu Yi staring at him, so that Liu Yao could sum up the lessons and stop tangling with Liu Kun.
[4] March 315 AD
So in September of that year, Liu Yao attacked Guanzhong for the fourth time. This time he decided to change his tactics, no longer going straight up the Wei River, but after crossing the Yellow River, he detoured around Beidi County, first sweeping away the Western Jin forces north of Chang'an, and then going south to surround Chang'an.
The Western Jin Dynasty sent Koji Yun to defend against Liu Yao, and Suo Qiang served as the commander of the Miyagi garrison. Liu Yao first took Feng Yi, and then turned to attack Shangjun. Due to the famine, Koji Yun was forced to leave Huangbai City and garrison Lingwu, and he did not dare to attack Liu Yao due to the lack of troops, so he had to watch from a distance.
Some people suggested that Sima Ye abandon the ruined Chang'an and defect to Sima Bao, the king of Nanyang who was guarding Qin Prefecture. Officials around Sima Bao all said that they should temporarily cut off the road between Longdi and Chang'an with the determination of a strong man to break his wrist, avoid the morale of the Han army, and observe the change of the situation. One of the loyal servants said angrily: "Now that the poisonous snake is biting its head, do you still have to cut off the head?" "Temporarily stabilized sima Baoqin's determination to escort him."
But what Sima Bao could not imagine was that the person who did not want Sima Ye to come to him the most was not Liu Yao, but Suo Qiang, who had supported Sima Ye as the emperor. Suo Qiang said: When Sima Bao got the Son of Heaven, he would definitely indulge his own selfish intentions and resolutely prevent Sima Bao from coming.
On the surface, this is said, secretly Suo Qiang's real thought is: Turtle shrinking in the precarious City of Chang'an, he is at least still a major minister of the imperial court, if he defects to Sima Bao, Suo Qiang will no longer have his current status.
As a result, Sima Yi was unable to go to Qin Prefecture, and the disappointed Sima Bao no longer had the idea of defending the imperial court, and the area west of Chang'an no longer respected the imperial court. Due to the lack of supplies, the civil and military officials in Chang'an City were hungry and sleepy, and could only survive on the wild valleys they collected.
However, this does not mean that Liu Yao won easily. Because since entrusting the affairs of the military state to Liu Cang, Liu Cong almost stopped asking about the affairs of the dynasty and put his main energy into the enjoyment of the sound and color of dogs and horses, and Liu Yao's side could not get supplies, so he had to let the soldiers solve the problem of eating by themselves.
The main energy of the Han Dynasty was not in Guanzhong, but in the increasingly fierce struggle for crown princes in the imperial court. Many people defected to The Xiangguo Liu Yue's men and used the trapping of Liu Qi as a ladder to advance. Among them, the most typical are Guo Yi and Jin Zhun, who have a personal grudge with Liu Qi.
Guo Yi found Liu Yue and said, "Your Highness is the eldest grandson of the former emperor, the concubine of the emperor, and he has returned to his heart from all over the world, so why do you want to pass the world on to the emperor's brother- I heard that the emperor's brother and the general Liu Ji conspired to launch a rebellion at a banquet in early March, and after the incident, the emperor was honored as the emperor, Liu Ji was made crown prince, and the Wei general Liu Ji was made DaDan Yu (both Liu Ji and Liu Ji were liu cong's sons). These three kings are not currently suspected by the emperor, and they have a heavy army, and on their terms, the success rate of the coup is very high. But the great general and the general Wei coveted a momentary small profit, and did not care about their father and brother, once they succeeded, would the emperor still have a reason to save? As for His Highness, that's not to mention. In this way, the official positions of the Eastern Palace, Xiangguo, and Shan Yu all belonged to Liu Qi's sons and brothers Liu Wuling in the future, and would they still be given to others? Now that the signs of disaster are already very obvious, we should plan to eliminate the hidden dangers as soon as possible. I told the emperor about this many times, but the emperor paid attention to family affection, only because I was a eunuch who had been cut off and did not believe me. I hope that His Highness will not leak today's conversation and secretly express the situation of Liu Qi's rebellion. If you don't believe me, you can summon Wang Pi and Liu Wei, promise them kindness, allow them to turn themselves in, and Your Highness will surely know the truth if you ask them again. ”
Then Guo Yi secretly threatened Wang Pi and Liu Huan with extermination, forcing them to give false testimony, and Liu Cang no longer had any doubts about Liu Qi's rebellion.
However, Liu Qi, who was in seclusion, had always been cautious and cautious, and did not give Liu Cang any handle at all. Just when Liu Cang was distressed by this, Jin Zhun, as the abbot of the country, found him.
"If you directly report to the emperor that the emperor's brother is going to rebel, the emperor will certainly not believe it." It is better to let go of the surveillance and prohibition of the Eastern Palace, so that guests can come and go, and the Emperor's brother usually likes to receive scholars, and he will certainly not be wary of this. In this way, after that, I will play the crimes of the Emperor's brother on behalf of His Highness, and His Highness will arrest and interrogate those who have contacts with the Emperor's brother, and after the confession, the Emperor will have no reason not to believe. ”
Prior to this, in order to gain favor with the magnates, Jin Zhun had married a cousin to the emperor's brother Liu Qi, but Jin had committed adultery with one of Liu Qi's bodyguards. After the matter was exposed, Liu Qi was furious and executed Jin Shi, and every time he saw Jin Zhun, he took this matter out and sneered at it. Therefore, Jin Zhun hated Liu Qi so much that he only wanted Liu Qi to die, and turning to Liu Cang could best achieve his goal, which was the reason why he went to Liu Cang.
In the first month of 316 AD, Liu Cang withdrew the army monitoring the Eastern Palace, Liu Qi did not smell the danger, he thought that he had regained his freedom, his wish was enough, but the danger was also quietly around him.
However, there was no shortage of people of insight in Han, and the ministers represented by Dazai Liu Yi, the great general Liu Shi, and the imperial master Chen Yuanda were worried about Liu Cong's disregard for political affairs, indulged in wine, and were close to villains, and they all initiated advice to Liu Cong. But Liu Cong only regarded these pieces as a joke to relieve the boredom of his favorite courtiers, and did not care. Seeing that Liu Cong's behavior was becoming more and more outrageous, Liu Yi simply went directly to the palace to personally advise Liu Cong, which caused Liu Cong to lose his temper and tear up Liu Yi's performance on the spot, and when he returned home, Liu Yi died in anger, and Chen Yuanda, who could not see hope, also committed suicide.
The only remaining advisor, Liu Shi, advised Liu Cong again shortly after, and Liu Cong replied extremely roguely: Do you want Lao Tzu to die sooner? Cry a ball in front of Lao Tzu all day!
Naturally, Liu Shi was also killed alive and died of illness.
Compared with the increasing decay and weakness of the Han Dynasty, its foreign wars have progressed extremely smoothly.
In July of that year, Liu Yao besieged The Northern Territory Taishou Koji Chang, just in time for the famine in The Northern Lands County, the people in the city had reached the point of cannibalism, although the Qiang chieftains had to prepare to transport grain to Koji Chang, but encountered Liu Ya's resistance, the grain could not be transported into the city.
Seeing that The Northland County was about to fall, Koji Yoon led 30,000 soldiers to the rescue. Liu Yao set fire to the city walls, obscuring Koji Yun's sight with thick smoke, and then sent traitors to spread rumors that the north had fallen and that it was too late to rush away.
This rumor frightened Koji's men and scattered everywhere. Liu Yao took advantage of the situation to pursue, defeated Koji Yun at Shigu, forcing him to flee back to Lingwu, and naturally the Northern Lands County also fell into Liu Yao's hands.
[5] November 315 AD
Koji is kind and generous in temperament, and if he is concerned about character, he must be a good person. But he was not majestic or decisive, he liked to take the title to please people, the general county taishou was also a general of the conquest and town, and even the general of the staff festival, the general wubao chief could also add the name of the general, but the low-level soldiers could not enjoy any favors, so the generals became more arrogant, and the morale of the soldiers was lower. When Koji Yun was in danger, the county guards he had sealed even said, "We must wait until Koji Yun is at the end of the road before we can save him!" ”
Therefore, Liu Yao's march was very smooth, and the cities north of Jingshui and Weishui collapsed, and Lu Chong, Liang Wei, Huang Fuyang and other ministers were either killed in battle or taken prisoner. Lu Chong resolutely refused to surrender, and was given death by Liu Yao, and Liang Wei's wife Xin Shi was never humiliated and followed her husband to commit suicide. Liu Yao's army attacked all the way to Chang'an City.
[6] June 316
At this time, the county guards under Koji Yun had a sense of crisis, and they led their troops to rescue Chang'an, but they were afraid of the strength of the Han soldiers and did not dare to advance. Sima Bao of Qin Prefecture also sent Hu Song to rescue Chang'an, and had already defeated Liu Yao at Lingtai, but Hu Song was worried that the prestige of the imperial court was revived, making the forces of Li Yun and Suo Qi stronger, affecting Sima Bao's position, and simply retreating to Huaili and watching success or failure.
The country was in trouble, the imperial court was still fighting, Liu Yao effortlessly attacked the outer city of Chang'an, and Koji Yun and Suo Qi retreated to the small city to hold on. At this time, Chang'an had been cut off inside and outside, the shortage of grain in the city had reached the extreme, a bucket of rice was worth two or two gold, the people could only survive by eating people, more than half of the city died, the soldiers also fled, and only a few thousand volunteers in Liangzhou swore to die.
There were also dozens of wheat cakes for brewing in chang'an's granary, and Koji Yun crushed the cakes and made them into porridge to serve as Sima Yi's imperial meal, and soon ran out. Under the internal and external difficulties, Sima Yi cried and said to Koji Yun: "In such a situation as now, Sima Ye can only endure the humiliation and surrender, so that the soldiers and the people can survive." After saying that, Sima Yi sighed again: "It is Koji Yun and Suo Qi who are delaying me!" Subsequently, he sent his attendant Zhongzong Chang to hand over a letter of surrender to Liu Yao.
At such a point, Suo Qi did not forget to gain some benefits for himself, he secretly kept Zong Chang, and sent his son to say to Liu Yao: "Now the grain in the city is still enough to last for a year, but it is not so easy to conquer, if you promise to make me a Duke of Yitong and Wanhu County, then surrender the city." ”
Liu Yao was not accustomed to Suo Qi's problems, killed his son, sent someone to send the corpse back, and replied: "The emperor's master has always acted according to morality. I led the army for fifteen years, never relying on intrigue and trickery, but always doing my best to fight to the end, and then occupying the territory. If you do what Suo Qi said, then there is no difference between it and the evil things that the world has done. If the grain in Chang'an City is indeed not eaten, then it is better to hold on to it with all your might and fight in an upright manner; if the grain has been eaten and your morale is weakened, then you should also understand the will of heaven as soon as possible. ”
For this part, there is nothing more to say. On the tenth day of november 315, Zong Chang went to Liu Yao's barracks to submit a letter of surrender. On the eleventh day, Sima Yi rode in a sheep cart, with his arms exposed and his mouth full of jade, and dragged the coffin out of the East Gate with a cart to surrender, and some of the courtiers cried loudly, and some of them committed suicide because they could not bear the humiliation. Liu Yao burned Sima Ye's coffin, accepted his jade bi, and sent Sima Ye back to the palace. On the thirteenth day, Liu Yao moved Sima Ye and the ministers to his barracks, and four days later, sent them to Pingyang. On the eighteenth day, Liu Cong received Sima Yi at the Guangji Hall and accepted the first salute from the Heavenly Son of the Jin Dynasty.
Koji Yun could not accept such a fact, and lying on the ground and crying bitterly, Liu Cong was furious and imprisoned him. In the end, Koji Yoon commits suicide in prison, and Suo Qiang, who surrendered to Liu Cong, does not end well, and he is killed by Liu Cong for reasons of disloyalty, ending his embarrassing life.
The captured Sima Yi was eventually appointed by Liu Cong as the Grand Master of Guanglu and made the Marquis of Huai'an. The last emperor of the Western Jin Dynasty thus ended his political life.
[7] October 316 AD
The slanting sun of the empire finally fell completely, darkness descended on this land, and in the southern land of Jiangdong, another Sima Shi was preparing for a new beginning. He jumped up straight, ready to ascend to the long-awaited throne.
The new story begins here.
Resources
[1] Fang Xuanling (Tang) et al. Book of Jin
[2] Sima Guang (Song) · Zizhi Tongjian
[3] Wang Zhongji, History of the Southern and Northern Dynasties of the Wei and Jin Dynasties
[4] Zhou Weizhou, History of the Han and Zhao Kingdoms
[5] Li Zhen, History of the Later Zhao Dynasty
[6] Zhang Jinlong, Political History of the Northern Wei Dynasty